The prior art is replete with arrangements for incorporating a flashlight or other illumination source with a safety helmet (such as a firefighter's helmet). In some cases, a flashlight is held in place against the side of a helmet by a large-sized rubber strap that surrounds the helmet. While somewhat satisfactory, the rubber strap may break, or the light may become dislodged from the strap. Inasmuch as the helmet is generally being used in an emergency situation, these problems with a strap-secured light are of a concern.
Some configurations have been developed for attaching a mounting bracket to the side of a helmet, and then supporting a flashlight in this mounting bracket. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,868 issued to D. Montalbano et al. on Sep. 9, 1997 and entitled “Helmet Rigid Flashlight Bracket”. In this arrangement, a rigid flashlight bracket is attached to the brim of a helmet by the user, where the user himself attaches the bracket at a location that is useful for that particular purpose. The bracket is formed to include a retainer that is shaped to hold a specific type of small, rectangular flashlight. The flashlight itself is merely seated in the bracket retainer and not otherwise fixedly attached to the bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,494 issued to B. L. Harlan on Aug. 1, 1995 and entitled “Light Holder for Head Gear” describes an alternative type of structure which comprises a leaf-spring strap that is shaped to surround the circumference of a conventional penlight-sized flashlight and hold the flashlight securely in place. The opposing end of the leaf-spring strap comprises a bolted fastener that comes apart to be bolted onto an opening formed in the side of the safety helmet.
It has been found that side-mounted arrangements, such as those described above, are not preferable configurations for many situations. For example, the inclusion of a flashlight on only one side of a helmet results in an unbalanced fitting of the helmet, which may impact the effectiveness of the user or, at the very least, serve as a source of unwanted distraction. Additionally, the extension of the flashlight beyond the profile of the helmet (including those arrangements where a flashlight is attached under a brim of a helmet) results in the light sometimes coming loose or getting stuck in the surroundings. Moreover, the presence of the flashlight in that region may impact the user's field of view—a hazard in emergency situations.
Therefore, a need remains for an arrangement for illuminating the area in front of a safety helmet that does not have any of the drawbacks mentioned above.